Love in the Days of Mythology
by AngelOfDeath10
Summary: AU GaaSaku, arranged marriages are a matter of course for "Greek" gods, and for Sakura it seemed like a death sentence. But when the groom also seems reluctant the only answer is to act like the worst possible fiance (so why does that appear to make him want her more)! Cracked out premise, but the ride is fun.
1. Preamble

A very clever person who left a review as a guest suggested that I build a GaaSaku story around a myth instead of a fairy tale. It took some searching but I finally found something that fit, so this is based around Hephaestus and Aglaia (youngest of the Graces). Once I narrowed it down everything basically fell into place. Aglaia is the daughter of Helios and Aegle (one version of the parents of the Graces).

I decided to make this somewhat literal but with liberties. If you like the premise let me know and I'll pump some energy into it (3 chapters and an epilogue I'm thinking.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! This is just playin' around with names and personalities.

* * *

_Being a virgin sacrifice is extremely overrated_, Sakura thought as Hinata checked over her bundles for what felt like the twelfth time in an hour. The horse shifted nervously next to her, skin twitching. A little ways away, Ino argued with their mother who in turn was arguing with their uncle. The whole family had to be present to send her off because it was an "honor" that Sakura had been chosen, and while people gave her pitying looks behind her back to her face all she got was congratulations on her impending nuptials. Her smooth pink hair was in an extra tight bun, glossy and clean, and her chiton was a shiny white that would have dazzled if the morning hadn't been so drizzly and grey. Sakura wrapped her shawl around her shoulders more tightly. The sun was nowhere to be seen, a bleak January day as usual.

"Everything seems ready," Hinata said, but without any certainty in her voice. "It might rain on the way but I'm sure your wedding costume will stay dry. The dyes set into the fabric recently, I hope they don't run…" Her pale eyes shifted from Sakura to the packs and back to the ground before cycling through all those things again. Sakura felt dizzy on her behalf.

"How many cows do you think were sent to him by our father?" Sakura only asked this to make Hinata feel uncomfortable. She immediately felt bad for doing so as her older sister blushed and stammered. "Don't worry, I'm sure whatever he sent is a pittance to my _betrothed_ anyway." Betrothed came out something like captor, even though Sakura knew she should be happy that she was marrying someone so powerful. It was an honor not a punishment, but her slightly red eyes gave away the few tears she had had this morning out of sight of her family.

Ino finally wandered over having been shouted out by their mother and uncle. The drizzle from the sky dampened her hair and made her cross. Normally smiling eyes full of guile and adventure just reflected the same helpless rage all three of them felt. "You can still run away."

"And then what, and then he punishes our family and takes one of you instead? Or kills the lot of us? He can do anything he wants. We're not exactly in a good bargaining position, you know, and we can thank our father for that directly the next time he shows his face." Her eyes darted to the sky as if he would suddenly appear ready to scold her for her ungrateful words.

Hinata picked at the corner of her skirts, flattening and fluffing the white folds in turn. "You shouldn't think badly of our father. He was probably bragging of us and then..." She couldn't finish her sentence as she obviously was out of excuses. Sakura loved her sister and the eternal good will Hinata held for their celestial dad, but Sakura was not blessed with that kind of natural good opinion of others, nor did she have Ino's energetic zest for entertainment. Clever, practical, solid—often strangers thought Sakura was eldest instead of youngest among the three of them.

It was less than a week's worth of walking but to Sakura it looked more like a long rocky road leading to the underworld. It wasn't exactly fair of her to say that, knowing as she did that Orochimaru's domain lay leagues away in another direction, but it was about the symbolism not the reality. It would be much nicer if her reality conformed to something that made sense, but it was at the end of summer that the note from Gaara's emissary had come, swiftly followed by a rare visit from their father in all his shining glory. Ino, who had been betrothed for almost a year, had thought at first word had finally arrived from Shikamaru but it seemed he was still dawdling in regards to some important details and her own marriage was still delayed until the potential groom woke up from his infamous slumber long enough to take formal action.

Sakura had gone from amused at Ino's consternation to horrified as their mother read the missive and promptly burst into tears. Sakura to marry Gaara? It had to be some sort of sick joke. Gaara's former marriage had only been officially dissolved less than a year ago, according to rumor, so no one would have expected him to enter into another union so fast. Damn her father and his nosy interest in the dark and troubled man. Unlike him, his daughters were only minor gods of inspiration and they were lucky enough to have the freedoms they did unlike some children of more significant deities. Obscurity had been freedom, but now the baleful eye of a major god had turned directly towards her.

What had her father even said about her that had interested Gaara?

Unable to travel so far from her fresh water home into the volcanic mountains that Gaara resided near, Sakura bid her mother goodbye and the three sisters began their journey. If they walked day and night they could reach the mountains in a mere three days, and while they didn't need rest the way a mortal might it didn't suit them to be so energetic towards a destination they all dreaded.

* * *

Under a cloud of smoke, Gaara seethed. Molten rock and metal flowed around him and, if he willed it, would overcome the small village he looked upon below this workshop. It was his favorite, the one he came to when he needed to do his best work. As if distracting him with tasks would break him from his madness. As if he cared that Tsunade wanted golden shoes with heels of diamond or that Jiraiya had plans for a miniature liquid metal dog that would head butt anyone who interrupted him while he rested. Requests by the hundreds from his fellow gods, and by the thousands from mortals looking to escape his anger or plead for his intervention, were just a matter of annoyance.

Every shuddering breath he took pumped the bellows and the heat was suffocating, cloaking him and comforting him while the voices in his head churned. Every slightly limping step reminded him of how of his siblings he was the one that had been cast out. Gaara was imperfect, no that was too gentle, he was a monster. And as lava slid down the mountain, lighting the village on fire for the first time in decades, he watched people flee towards the sea and asked himself why he was inviting someone into his life. He didn't even know them and they would just become another despised interloper to his daily routines. He had already had a hard lesson about what love really was.

By the light of the magma Gaara picked up his hammer, and while the mortals below fled and died he reminded himself that what was capable of destruction was also capable of creation. It had to be true, otherwise the voice telling him to destroy had no redemption.


	2. Proaulia

It was pointed out to me that some people would benefit from a quick refresher about the Greek gods so that this doesn't confuse. (Don't worry, next project will be modern/non-fantasy I think). Appendix of the Naruto to Greek made in footnotes at the bottom. Shouldn't be absolutely necessary to read the story but will help the curious.

Quick Notes: Hephaestus, the smith god, (Gaara) used to be married to Aphrodite, the love goddess, (Karin) who cheated on him many many times with Ares, the war god (Sasuke). Adultery is legit grounds for divorce in ancient Greece so Hephaestus divorced Aphrodite and married the youngest of the Graces (after some other messing around which didn't fit in with Gaara's character so it's snipped here, plus it's kind of incest-y as most of the gods' interactions are and I'd like to avoid that as well). The marriage was a sidenote in Hephaestus' myths, but I wondered what this girl might think who has basically been thrown at this guy who was born with huge family and intimacy issues (Hephaestus was literally rejected by the personifications of love and motherhood both).

Hope that provides a little context for this romp. Man, what the heck am I doing?

Disclaimer: see part 1

* * *

Proaulia

* * *

"Trust Uncle Bumble to show up and go straight for the wine, he's just going to get sloppy drunk like all those other times we've seen him." Ino rolled her eyes in the direction of the Titan whose name she purposefully misused.

Sakura privately thought you'd drink too if all your brothers were dead or vanished for their various indiscretions against the current rulers of the gods. Privately she thought him being perceived as a harmless fool was the smartest move he could make.

"Once Asuma is back he'll take care of him, just give it an hour." Sakura examined the darkening sky and waved at it, as if Asuma could see.

Their aunt Kurenai was playing hostess to their unruly relatives in a hastily built residence under the shadow of the gloomy mountain that Sakura would probably be calling home soon enough. While only the women had been invited somehow their wine loving uncle had found the time to crash the party. Once Asuma finished tending to his duties at twilight he would come back and evict their rowdier uncle so the women could finish with their celebrations and ceremonies.

Sakura looked at the spread before her and realized how lucky she was that the Titans were as close as they were even after falling out of power. There was plenty of the expected nectar and ambrosia but the roast goat and pig, fine lentil and pea soups, leavened bread, and fresh fruits and vegetables showed that their uncle and aunt had truly pulled out all the stops to make this dysfunctional family happy on the feast day before her wedding. Kurenai was stoking a fire to reduce the chill in the air, and Sakura watched the light play on people's faces making them jolly or sinister in turns.

Noticeably absent were all the watery relatives, but many had sent notes with congratulations prior to her journey to Gaara's mountain. Plenty of women had showed up at any rate and many were talking and laughing together, comparing notes, or taking turns recounting stories of their weddings or other involvements. Hinata seemed to have a semi-permanent blush on as some of the stories got explicit in parts, particularly if Jiraiya was involved. Their mother had perhaps sheltered them too well for too long.

"You look really radiant tonight, Hinata." As patron of banquets Hinata had never been at a party where she wasn't looking pleased, but she was always nervous that things would go awry. Anxiety and the desire to please others plagued her constantly, so Sakura tried to reassure her even as she was the one that needed reassurance tonight.

"Thanks Sakura, everyone is having a good time and I'm not nearly as worried as I was an hour or two ago before they all arrived." A plate of uneaten food sat near her, and Sakura hoped Hinata's appetite would pick up once this mess of a wedding ended.

"Did you just hear that?" Ino, who had been listening to some aunts behind them, whipped her head around so fast to face them that she hit Hinata full in the face with her fat blond braid. "Truly did you just hear what they said? Ohhh man, if Naruto and TenTen heard that story they would both be so angry. I mean I knew the bones of it, pregnant for years and all, but it's different when their mom gets some wine in her!"

"Speaking of TenTen, did you remember to bring the offerings for her? I spent hours rooting around in our storage closet and all I found was one of those clay horses we used to play with. I don't think that's going to be nearly enough. You know she's all about quantity…" Sakura was actually a little nervous about that. Naruto was fond of the three of them, but making TenTen angry could result in an arrow or a dagger or who knows what exotic weapon shoved into something vital and he usually didn't step in when she was in a mood. "Hinata said you had found it all but now we need to go get it out of those packs and I don't know which one it is."

Ino waved a hand dismissively and popped an olive into her mouth. "Don't worry about it, I had already dug out all our old toys since less than half a year ago I thought I'd be getting married _first_." Sakura thought Ino was letting her sweat it out over the offering since she was a little peeved that Sakura was beating her to the alter.

"Don't worry, Shikamaru has to wake up sometime. And just think… you'll finally be someplace dear old dad has never seen." Sakura watched Ino's eyes brighten in glee. Never to be silently watched again by their all seeing sun god father was a dream come true. Shikamaru was her dream man almost based on that fact alone.

"I'm sure Gaara will be…" Ino stumbled over some adjective that would make Sakura feel better about all this.

Sakura took over for her quickly with something between a smirk and a grimace playing on her lips. "Rich? Good with his hands?" Ino laughed and Hinata blushed. "I can't imagine what he wants from me when he's got everything."

Wandering over with a wine stain running down the front of his chiton uncle 'Bumble' as Ino called him started to say loudly, "Oh I can tell you what he wants, the dastard!" swiftly followed by a fighting pose. As the women present suddenly turned their distasteful glares in his direction Asuma darted in to lock their drunk uncle's head under his armpit in a close choking grip giving them all a good view of a mop of black hair. He flailed and demanded a fair fight as Asuma greeted everyone warmly, gave his wife a wink, and withdrew from the home all while hauling the thrashing Titan. Sakura told herself to send Asuma a gift later after things had settled down.

"Let's go get those toys out." Ino said as all of their eyes followed the scene out the door.

* * *

"Remember when mom made us these dolls?" Sakura hadn't even thought about them in years. While it couldn't have been more than a hundred years since their actual childhood it felt like those times were far away. Everyone had been a child at some point, even Gaara, (but maybe not Temari). He had grown up in the sea and she had grown up in rivers and lakes, so maybe they could find some common ground there?

"I remember when you popped the head off of mine because you wanted the one with the longest hair." Ino said, trying not to sound bitter about old slights.

"And I remember how you cut all the hair off of mine to get even so don't pretend like you're so great either." Out of the corner of her eye Sakura saw Hinata pick up her old doll and give it a squeeze and a smile. Ino had remembered to pack the dolls, a yoyo that Sakura used to swing around her head like a weapon, a deflated water bladder that they used to inflate with air and toss to one another, and then Sakura had added onto the pile the wooden horse on wheels that she used to pretend was her steed. TenTen would have to be happy with this as it was all that remained of her childhood in any tangible sense.

Dusting off her hands, Sakura picked everything up and set it aside while they refastened the packs and pushed them back into a corner. Her wedding costume had been laid out earlier in the day, and all the aunts and cousins had come in to look at it and coo over how pretty it was despite the rush in having it made. The saffron colored veil and golden crown winked as firelight caught the metal.

"Are you really ok?" Ino watched her face, always the sister closest at guessing when Sakura was hiding something.

"I don't have a choice, I have to be ok."

"That's not a real answer! You're allowed to be angry! I'm furious _for_ you if you refuse to admit it."

Gaara, will not known for being covetous, was certainly known as possessive. "If Gaara has decided I'm the one for him I don't think anyone short of Jiraiya or Tsunade could order otherwise! You think I like being powerless?" Sakura's voice rose with her temper and then fell as she became aware again of the party in the other room.

"What if Gaara didn't want you anymore?" Hinata's voice was just a murmur, cutting through the tension between Ino and Sakura in that placid way it always did.

The sounds of the party filtered through with spikes of laughter and song as it appeared someone had brought a lyre and begun playing. Both Sakura and Ino stared at Hinata, eyes burning with too many feelings and thoughts, looking to their usually timid sister for answers.

Clearing her throat and speaking only just loud enough to be heard she continued. "I mean, Gaara has never met you so he doesn't really _know_ you. Not like we know you. What if… you weren't what he expected?"

It wasn't immediately making sense to Sakura but Ino went from stormy to amused in an instant. "You'll have a whole day with him before the marriage ceremony. Making you ugly is impossible, he'll know that's a sham, but if you just act with him like you did with me a moment ago maybe he'll think twice about this marriage idea…"

Finally catching on to what they were thinking, both sisters looking at her with more hope than they'd had in months, she felt trills of fear. They were grasping at dust in the air. "So you want me to act like an angry bi—"

"You don't have to be angry," Hinata interrupted. "Just take all those thoughts you always keep inside and… say them."

While Sakura had cultivated a calm, intelligent, controlled exterior her sisters well knew she had a whole other side to her that she hid from the outside world. Even their all-seeing father wouldn't have known unless he had taken the time to talk to her at length, and he was so busy she was honestly surprised he remembered their names sometimes.

It was risky. Gaara, like his volcanic homes, could use her misbehavior as an excuse to explode at her and wreak some sort of punishment. And even if she succeeded she would be tainted with her failed marriage for centuries. The alternative was to marry into an unwanted and undoubtedly dangerous unknown.

"So all I have to do is say what's on my mind? You think that would be enough to make him think he had made a mistake in choosing me?"

Hinata and Ino exchanged a glance and Sakura narrowed her eyes as they answered in tandem. "Definitely."

* * *

Their female relatives surrounded them as Sakura took the toys from Ino and placed them in the ceremonial fire. As they began to crackle, Hinata snipped a small lock of hair from the bottom of Sakura's long mane and tied it with a ribbon before she handed it Sakura who in turn threw it into the fire. As the hair crackled and burned the fire changed colors and in the distance an animal howled. It was a good omen, TenTen had accepted the offering quickly. Of course she must have been waiting for it as Gaara, while not strictly related to her, was close with her twin Naruto.

Fooling Gaara tomorrow meant fooling all these important and powerful gods. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach made her wish she hadn't had so much bread and cheese with dinner.

Mistaking her nervousness for the sadness of the loss of technical childhood, Kurenai came over to wrap her in a quick hug. The tiny bit of mothering from her normally distant aunt was comforting, and Sakura tried to bring herself back to the present.

"You'll find marriage will suit you." Kurenai said, "You always struck me as the most grounded of your sisters. If anyone can make this work, it will be you."

Guilt blossomed inside of her—actively sabotaging her own wedding would shame her family as well. But thinking back on all the misadventures of the Titans it would probably only be a minor story that would fade soon enough once someone killed someone else's demi-god child. As for the Olympians, Karin had cheated on Gaara for ages with Sasuke and nothing of note had happened to her. Not that she was a major goddess like Karin. Was she really about to roll these dice?

In the distance, Gaara's mountain home rumbled. No doubt it was announcing his arrival. Sakura's fear solidified into the grim decision to follow through with the plan. After all, all she had to do was be herself in a sense. Inner Sakura could take anyone on.

* * *

With all the tents and makeshift buildings near the small town at the base of his home, it looked more like a military campaign than a wedding. An act of war would have been more cut and dry than this wedding, and at least Gaara would feel less conflicted about it all. Successfully blackmailing Tsunade and Jiraiya to secure Karin as a wife had seemed like a coup ages ago, but now that was scorched earth. Instead of being thought strong for casting Karin out, the Olympians thought him weak for being cuckolded so completely. Damn her and Sasuke both.

For once the forges in his mountain home were not stoked, and the embers provided low light to his workshop. Collapsing onto the chair next to the small table that housed his schematics, he swept one arm across it and knocked everything to the floor with a clatter as parchment and pieces of joints and half formed projects burst on the rough floor. On the empty table he casually tossed a cloth bag that created a hollow metallic noise as it hit. Karin had never tried to make this place her home, and he supposed he was saved from having to destroy reminders of her when there was nothing to destroy. So he would destroy his own things, what did it even matter?

His assistants were in the outer chambers, where the heat was less intense as a rule, and were preparing the great hall for tomorrow's feast as well as laying out new furniture and decorations for his soon to be bride.

Laughing himself into hysterical breathlessness from anger at the past and desperation for the future, Gaara came back to himself eventually and pulled a necklace and bracelets he had made for his bride out of gold and diamonds from the pouch. Tradition demanded jewelry and he wasn't going to do anything by halves. He'd show everyone how rich he was, how well he could entertain, and then his new wife would fade into the background of his life.

"Well, why am I not surprised to find you here…" At the voice, Gaara quickly stuffed the jewelry back into the pouch. He wasn't afraid of anyone taking it, but even looking at it stunk of sentimentality to him somehow and that wasn't who Gaara was.

"Go find some party, there's plenty out there." Gaara, dismissive as always, didn't even make eye contact with Kankuro.

"I could make you enjoy yourself, you know." Kankuro wandered over and set a cup of wine on the nearly empty table while he drank from an identical one in his hand.

Gaara eyed the cup warily, ultimately choosing to cast a baleful glare at his 'brother' and sometimes friend, if he counted anyone a friend. "There are people _below_ who would welcome your company."

Kankuro understood madness, if anyone did, having been cursed with it for a brief time during his younger days. Gaara wondered what it would be like to have that kind of perspective, when all he knew was his own dark thoughts. But he wasn't in the mood for Kankuro's flippant remarks tonight, and he didn't need any wine when he needed to be totally alert for tomorrow. It was all business, this wedding.

"I think I have something you want, though."

Gaara snorted in disbelief and pushed the cup farther away. Kankuro waggled his eyebrows, wine-purple tattoos about his face seeming to shift like snakes for a moment.

"Just take a quick look, they say there's truth in wine you know."

"That's because you started saying it." Gaara said flatly after a moment, but his curiosity was piqued. Pulling the cup closer he looked into the liquid, and as it settled from the sudden movement he saw an image of a girl. Green eyes, long pink hair, she seemed quick to smile and just as quick to smack the blond girl next to her who hit her right back. Pretty but not beautiful, too muscular to be fashionable, but he could feel himself being drawn in. He wanted to see more, he wanted to hear her voice, and as desire rose so did a deep loathing at his own weakness.

"Looks like you lucked out, eh? Pretty nice, if I do say so. I should have met these Graces earlier." Kankuro couldn't resist a pretty face.

Gaara was on to Kankuro's game. He wasn't going to get involved in anything so complicated as emotion. It had no place in his first marriage and this one would be no different.

"Are you done here?" Gaara emptied the cup onto the floor where the residual heat and porous volcanic stone dissipated it immediately.

The wine god laughed shortly and somewhat unpleasantly as he snatched back his wine cup. "I suppose I am. See you at the feast tomorrow. Try to figure out how to smile in the meantime."

* * *

In order of appearance:

i Epimetheus, brother to Prometheus and famously foolish = Gai

ii Eos, goddess of the dawn (actual aunt of the graces) = Kurenai

iii Astraeus, god of the dusk, husband to Eos the dawn (actual uncle of the graces) = Asuma

iv Apollo and Artemis, children of the Titan Leto = Naruto and TenTen

v Hypnos, god of sleep = Shikamaru

vi Athena, goddess of wisdom/war = Temari

vii Aphrodite, goddess of love = Karin

viii Ares, god of war = Sasuke

ix Dionysus, god of wine/harvest and madness = Kankuro


	3. Gamos : Morning

So… Greek weddings are complicated. Apparently there's no suitable historical source to let me know about the order of ceremonies so I went with the order that provides the most tension. This isn't going to be super long, but I'm having fun with it thus far so I hope you all can live with short and sweet as well. Maybe two more chapters and then I'm trying to decide if I should make some followup chapters to my Riding Hood piece since it feels like there's more to say about that weird worldlet.

Index of gods to Naruto characters at the end again for reference.

Disclaimer: see part I

* * *

Gamos: Morning

* * *

At least her wedding costume was warm. Somehow, without the greenery surrounding them, winter seemed much colder than at home. Sakura's gown had been draped artfully around her and she touched the purple hems of her sleeve with a half-smile ghosting her lips. Being thrifty, she thought it was a shame they couldn't reuse all this for Ino. For one thing, Ino wouldn't stand for it, and for another their parent's pride wouldn't stand for it. Trim the hems and she could probably reuse it herself in spring or fall and no one would be the wiser.

While Hinata fussed with the folds and Ino smoothed out her saffron colored veil, Sakura tried to knock some of the water out of her ears before giving a big yawn. Nervousness didn't allow her to be truly tired, but her body was still insisting that it needed rest. Tiredness was superfluous, her body would carry through the day just fine even if her mind felt like a wreck.

"Don't start that. We had to get up early too, you know." Ino picked up the bridal crown and examined it in the morning light for smudges or scuffs.

"Yeah, well at least you didn't have Kurenai holding your head underwater in a bathtub an hour before dawn."

"Can you blame her? She's was against the clock on that one and you needed the purification bath anyway." Nerves were making Ino more gruff and less sweet than usual.

Hinata fiddled with the same fold of robe for the fifth time, and Sakura reminded herself that she wasn't alone in this. Her sisters would be there for her. "Are you sure you won't eat anything?" Her pale eyes were full of concern.

Even thinking about food made her belly and throat feel like fire. "We'll be at a feast for hours and hours, I'm not worried about food."

One hour at a time, she just needed to take it one hour at a time.

"You hear that?" Ino perked up and practically threw the crown across the room and onto the veil as she ran over to the tall window in the room. Immediately pushing a chair against the wall she climbed up to see the source of the sound and gave what sounded like a combination of a gasp and a shriek. Sakura felt her acidic stomach tie itself into knots. She could hear it now too, horses hooves and creak of wheels.

Hinata was much better at keeping her focus under pressure and wandered over to grab the veil and crown. "One of our aunts explained this to me last night. Hold still, I don't want to poke you with any of these pins…" Gently, hands only trembling the barest amount, Hinata put the veil and crown on and affixed it to her head. It fell to the crook of her arm, she noted, and she wondered idly how eating with it on was going to work today. Once all the pins were in place Sakura gave an experimental shake to her head and when nothing moved she pulled up the front of the veil and gave Hinata as big a smile as she could manage.

Ino meanwhile had gone from gawking out the window to listening at the door. Low voices rose and fell, but Sakura could only make out Asuma's voice clearly punctuated by Kurenai once in a while. "He sure doesn't talk much. They just asked him how his day was, if they could help with feast preparations, and if he expected that many Olympians would be there today to which he answered: Fine, No, and Maybe in that order."

Lowering the veil again, everything took on a yellow sheen and Sakura reminded herself that she'd just have to get used to it today. Until her unveiling this evening she was stuck with it. The movement of fabric over the tip of her nose was already making it itch.

"I'm not sure about this." Sakura couldn't have told anyone if she was talking about Gaara, her wedding, or this stupid self-sabotaging plot her sisters had come up with.

"Just be yourself." Hinata smiled at her wanly.

"Only _more_." Ino reminded her.

"Just open the door," _before I lose my nerve_, she finished mentally. Halting her usual self-censorship was going to be difficult, having practiced it for so many years.

Expecting a short, twisted, ugly man with a big bushy beard she was somewhat shocked to lay eyes on Gaara, the only stranger in the room. He wasn't tall, it was true, but bring average height made him a hand taller than her. His slightly sallow complexion and dark rings around his eyes could be attributed to too much time indoors in his workshops and too many late nights without rest. The rust colored hair looked messy and slightly greasy, but she was momentarily befuddled as she met his eyes through the veil: green, just like her eyes, but sleepy and intense. Suddenly she was very grateful she could see him but he couldn't see her. The veil felt like a shield, and she was braver for it.

"We'll follow you to the temple and you and Sakura can make your offerings to Tsunade and Karin together…" Asuma said neutrally before Gaara interrupted him with a hiss.

"Only Tsunade's offerings will be necessary."

His voice was deeper than she expected, and smooth. It made him sound younger than his actual years and yet older than he looked. Gaara's eyes darted over her, searching for some flaw she was sure, but he wasn't going to see it here or now. He didn't ask for introductions and maybe he thought them irrelevant since she was the only one in the wedding costume. Her sisters shifted from foot to foot on either side of her awkwardly as they waited for some signal, not confident that they knew protocol in the presence of an important Olympian.

"Follow me." He ordered and Sakura saw him walk stiffly, hiding his limp well.

She knew she would be riding with him in the chariot to the temple, her family close behind. Ino was sticking out her tongue at Gaara's retreating figure and Sakura stifled a nervous laugh. Hinata and Ino would carry her offerings until they reached the temple: a jug of wine and her favorite winter shawl. There was no way she could guess at what Gaara would give to his mother.

He stood in the chariot, waiting for her with the reins already in hand. He watched her with the same intense stare but did not offer to help her into the bed of the chariot. Lucky, Sakura was an energetic and independent sort of person so she climbed in straight away without pausing to seek his help. He blinked owlishly as the chariot settled under her sudden weight and she took a balanced stance with her legs. Her father rode a chariot every single day, if he thought she wouldn't know how to properly ride in one then he could just adjust his expectations early. The horses looked wrong, as still as they were, and on closer inspection she saw they were made of some kind of metal. One finally shook its head and the mane stayed perfectly still in its artful wave. Had he crafted them himself? If so, Gaara was as talented as people said.

Turning her head towards him she forced herself to say the first thing that occurred to her. "You're not as short as I thought you'd be." _He's going to strike me dead right here_, her inner voice moaned silently.

Gaara slowly turned his head, and gave her a confused expression as he flicked the reins and they smoothly took off forward.

* * *

Tsunade's temple was suitably grand in the small town that sat at the base of his mountain. The village was not large, but he made sure the volcanic soil was fertile and the crops plentiful every year so the mortals made steady improvements over time despite the middling population. A January drizzle made sure not much dust was raised as they passed through the streets. The mortals had enough sense to ignore their small procession to the small temple district.

Sakura's veil streamed behind her, but other than making out a small nose and the outline of her smiling lips all he had was the memory of her face in that cup to remind him there was a real woman under all that fabric.

"Can't this tub go any faster?" she yelled into the wind next to him.

A curious woman at that, he amended. As he snapped the reins smartly to speed up his liquid bronze horses he tried to untangle thoughts about her that he had assumed would be straightforward. She let out a delighted laugh and now those lips under the veil parted in a toothy smile. He had to force himself to watch the road before they crashed because his world had filled up with those golden lips.

Dredging up what her father had said about her that night he had entertained the sun god he tried to bring to mind concrete descriptors: responsible, elegant, _demure_. Demure seemed the specific one that was obviously inaccurate, unless he meant demure of dress. Her father had failed to add brash to that list, as he thought of the way she had practically hopped into his chariot before taking a practically military stance and proclaiming him "not short." Oddly, he found his lips wanted to quirk up into a smile rather than if he imagined the same thing said by, say, Kankuro who he then imagined being trampled by his bronze horses for the offense.

As they pulled up in front of the temple, his blushing almost bride leapt off the chariot as it slowed and landed in a crouch before standing again and shaking her skirts to loosen any dust that might have gathered during the drive. She stretched her arms above her then shook them to loosen the muscles before arching her back that made an audible pop.

There was some time they needed to wait before her family caught up. Maybe a ten minutes, considering how much faster they had travelled. The morning mist hadn't yet dissipated and Sakura shone gold out of the corner of his eye. While he was trying not to show overt interest he couldn't help but compare her to the only other woman that he recalled in this situation.

Karin had been ladylike, measured and elegant all day long as she performed her role of bride to be perfectly. It was one of her domains, so naturally she would be the model that all women would try to live up to from her perfectly soft magenta hair that she had brushed hundreds of strokes every morning to her dainty feet that were lotioned and massaged every evening by her servants. If Karin had seemed untouchable it was because that's exactly what she was, at least to Gaara.

Nearby Sakura cleared her throat loudly to get his attention. "Are we going inside? It's not exactly warm out here."

"You're cold." Rarely aware of temperature differences, Gaara found himself incredulous.

"And you're not? I guess you're hot blooded after all."

Was that a joke? Was she implying that he had a bad temper? Her saying that made him angry as well as forced him to hide the fact that she had just made him angry as if he needed to disprove her observation. His lips pulled into a tight frown. They stood in silence as Gaara warred with himself.

A question pulled out of him unexpectedly. "What are you patron of?" He hoped she was patron of running at the mouth otherwise he was going to have trouble understanding how the sun god could have deceived him so. She was lovely enough, he knew that from his vision, but biddable was looking like a bald faced lie.

Sakura sighed, soulfully, and he realized with surprise he had managed to touch upon a sore spot. "It's spl.." She must have said it through clenched teeth because he couldn't make out the word.

Pleased he finally did something to put this strange woman off balance he pushed where he would normally ignore. "Speak louder."

"Splendor!" He was amused again as she appeared to be holding her own temper in check now. "Or rather the 'splendor of a healthy body' and… adornment."

Wanting to show her some of the same courtesy she had shown him he summed it up in the most insulting way he could imagine. "So you're goddess of good teeth and jewelry?"

"And you're god of tinkering around?" she snapped back, before she brought a hand over her mouth that slowly sank back to her side.

The rusty bark that passed through his lips was a laugh, he realized afterwards. And as the sounds of her family's chariot echoed through the fog as they approached, Gaara realized that the day which he had assumed was going to be long and tedious had suddenly taken on a fascinating new dimension. It was his nature to understand the workings of things, but he wasn't wrapping his mind around this woman or her motivations. Normally he would just pull the offending object apart, dissect it, improve upon it, but he found he was content to watch Sakura unfold today.

* * *

The quivering mortal priest and priestess escorted the two gods through the receiving chamber to where Tsunade's statue waited. Sakura was particularly fond of Tsunade, knowing as she did that while the Olympian was excessively indulgent in her drink she also tended to all the day to day workings of the palace of the gods while Jiraiya was out chasing women. She was a core of responsibility, even with her flaws, and Sakura respected that strength of character. It was a noble lady that she wanted to emulate, but it was a little weird to think that this paragon was going to be her mother-in-law. It seemed to Sakura that the more important your position the more distant you were forced to become.

Speaking of distant…

Gaara stared up at the statue of Tsunade that towered before them. Her face at this angle was partially obscured by her bosom. The scowl that snapped across his face even as he respectfully bowed and placed his offering in the sacred fire looked much darker and more intimidating than the one he had pointed at her outside not long before her family arrived. Every leaking thought made the next one easier to say, but this Gaara reminded her that he had the potential for violence.

The clay pot that Sakura had placed in the huge brazier finally cracked and steam rose up as the wine evaporated and floated to the heavens. More wine was being donated to her temple as well and this had been just for show. Honestly, the best part about this was finally being near enough to a fire to feel toasty.

The priest and priestess began to drone on with the ritual words, blessing the union, etc etc. They had just gotten to a part talking about the will of the goddess when a voice crackled out, interrupting them.

"That's enough, I can tell them that myself from here." Tsunade was just as buxom in real life, Sakura thought, and it was a good thing that priest staring at her fainted dead away because Sakura imagined Tsunade didn't appreciate people staring too hard and so specifically. The priestess slowly dragged the limp form of the priest out of the worship hall into the outer courtyard to give the deities some space.

"Getting back on the horse, eh?" Tsunade wandered over to Gaara, but they did not embrace. Sakura thought about her own affectionate mother and felt a stab of longing for a hug from her. Tsunade didn't look like the hugging type.

"Last I looked this girl is no horse. Then again I haven't lifted up the veil yet. I've been fooled before." Words fell from Gaara's lips like poison. There was no love lost between mother and son, but Sakura didn't think they'd be so open about it.

Tsunade laughed. "Karin probably wouldn't appreciate the analogy." The full force of her piercing gaze fell on Sakura and she found herself standing up straighter, wanting to measure up. "For what it's worth, I like this one. At least she knows how to give a gift a woman can appreciate."

"I gave you what you asked me for," he nodded to her feet where Sakura saw beautiful sandals of braided gold that sparkled at the heels and reflected the firelight.

"True enough. No more, no less." Tsunade looked over at Sakura again, "Things are busy today and I haven't much time, so I'll make this brief. Good luck, don't take what he says to heart, and remember to take some time for yourself every day." She placed a pomegranate in her hand and smiled at Sakura briefly. "And Gaara, try to be a little less…"

Gaara rolled his eyes as Tsunade trailed off.

"Well, a mother can only convince her grown son of so much." Her grumpy expression reminded Sakura so much of Gaara's grumpy expression that she had to clamp down on a laugh that wanted to escape.

Tsunade stepped into her own scared flame and faded from view.

"She looks just like her statues." Sakura tried to break the silence. Somehow, without Tsunade there it seemed darker and more claustrophobic. Her family was outside, waiting for her to emerge, and the priest and priestess were both still missing. Gaara, for all his slight frame, filled the room with an aura of menace.

Concentrating on the pomegranate in her hand, she was reminded that she hadn't had any breakfast at all. It wasn't real, of course. It turned out to be a box with the shape and feel of a pomegrate and inside was a gold ring that was crowned with a cluster of diamonds that looked like seeds. It was a good wedding gift: diamonds for good fortune in marriage.

"You can leave it with me and I'll put it with the other wedding gifts." Sakura realized he was just behind her and started, taking a step away from him before she got herself under control. His sneer at her spoke volumes as he stretched out his hand. "Afraid I'll bite?"

Allowing herself to be intimidated, to play into her fears, would only mean that this crusade to make herself unmanageable would fail. She had to be bold, she had to let herself react. Closing the box with a snap she placed it in his hand before taking another step so that she was so close she could make out the way his pupils dilated at her proximity.

"Not at all."

It was easy to meet his eyes from under the veil, sheltered by nothing more than fiber. He blinked and slowly drew a breath in and out before his hand whipped out like a snake and grabbed her wrist. The grip was punishing and his eyes were so wide she could make out the whites all around.

"_You should be_." He said in a voice low and hypnotic before dropping her wrist just as suddenly as he had encircled it.

Sakura, no dummy, was starting to think her plan was more than unwise as she silently cradled her aching wrist and watched him turn and leave. It might very well be suicidal, and for the first time she thought she might be in real danger.

* * *

Naruto to Greek God Index (short version for this chapter)

Sakura/Ino/Hinata = the Graces (names vary)

Gaara = Hephaestus, god of smiths

Asuma &amp; Kurenai = Astraeus (Dusk) and Eos (Dawn)

Tsunade = Hera, queen of the gods, patron of mothers and marriages

Karin = Aphrodite, goddess of love


	4. Gamos : Afternoon

Two chapters after this. Next one will be longer, this is just a little bridge before the big feast, wedding procession, and unveiling.

Strayed into comedy as per usual...

Disclaimer: see part 1

* * *

Gamos : Afternoon

* * *

Hinata was in full party preparation mode. While Gaara was supplying the banquet hall and all of the seating, wine, and small dishes, it was Sakura's family that was preparing all the main dishes. Hinata was everywhere that required answers about food, leaving Ino to spend time with Sakura after Gaara had dropped her off back at her aunt and uncle's home like a sack of grain. None of the gods, Titan or Olympian, needed anything other than the nectar and ambrosia but food was both novel and expected. There would be a small meal after the wedding ceremony, which would take place in less than an hour. It was a mere formality, as everyone knew the marriage wasn't truly sealed until she had entered his rooms and the whole deal was consummated. If it came to that.

"There's still time." Ino said, trying to cheer her gloomy sister. "I mean, it has to be a good sign that he practically didn't even stop the horses as you got off the chariot."

Sakura huffed something like a tense laugh, turning the crown around in her hands over and over as if the tactile sensation would ease the stress she was under. Outside, the goat that was to be sacrificed to the gods before the ceremony (and then eaten at the feast) was bleating as the bustle of people coming and going agitated it. Never did Sakura think she would feel so psychically aligned with an animal.

"You didn't see his face." Sakura finally tossed the crown on the veil, both waiting to be reapplied to Sakura's head. It seemed like a lot of trouble, when she'd have to take it all off again for the ceremonial bath. "What could I possibly do or say that would change his mind about all this?"

"Did you try just, I don't know, asking him?" Ino, who had been brushing her hair out before putting it up again, pulled a face that let Sakura know she was making a joke.

Easy for her to joke, Sakura thought, but tendrils of inspiration wormed their way into her mind. "Why _don't_ I ask him?"

"I wasn't serious…" Ino looked worried all at once. Crossing the room to put a hand on Sakura's shoulder, she tried a searching glance in her eyes as if she were examining her for an illness. "Maybe that crown is too tight, I think it's pinched all the sense out of you."

"But don't you see? If he takes me seriously then maybe we can get somewhere with this. If he doesn't take me seriously, then it isn't much different than how I've been behaving around him anyway." It seemed a little more directed than the generalized rudeness she had been trying thus far.

Ino, eyes narrow with worry, was about to say something when Kurenai burst into the room with a large piece of fabric. Sakura picked up the brush and made a few quick passes in her hair to get the tangles out as Ino was drafted into action.

"Help me put this up! Asuma will be in shortly with the bathtubs. Ino, you'll be the one carrying the loutraphoros for Sakura, and I believe Gaara has made arrangements for his own water carrier for the baths."

With a groan Ino helped Kurenai pin up the sheet that would provide the almost bride and groom with the needed separation until the unveiling later than day. The room was a little small, since this house had only been constructed for the purpose of the wedding and neither Kurenai nor Asuma were the kind of people to spend a lot of time indoors. Having two bathtubs and all the supplies that the sisters had brought made it a slightly tighter squeeze than they were all expecting. Sakura, still sustained more by nerves than anything, replaced the veil on her head and tried to pin the crown on herself while letting her hair fall loose behind her only to stick herself in the scalp a few times and give up on the pins. Her colorful language was ignored by the bustling Kurenai and Ino, but Asuma laughed at her struggles when he entered with the first bathtub.

"Delicate as always, our Sakura." The hammered out copper bathtubs weren't heavy, but they didn't fit through the door well and it took Asuma some time to get everything in and placed as Kurenai and Ino tried to keep him from tearing down their cloth panel in the center. It was comical enough that Sakura almost forgot the sense or foreboding she'd been fighting against.

This was how a wedding day should be, full of family and laughter. _And maybe Ino will have that experience…_, her inner voice sighed.

* * *

The goat didn't know what hit it. Sakura was glad that it had been quick and the animal had gone straight to the kitchen after the priest said his words over it. While she couldn't say she was envious, she did track the goat with her eyes as it made its way to the indoor roasting spit instead of paying attention to the words being spoken on her behalf to ask for the blessing of the gods. If she really needed that then she could do that in person, but it was always about keeping up appearances.

Gaara had arrived again in his chariot with the uncanny horses, priest in tow, to 'get this over with' as he so romantically put it. His callousness made her angry enough to forget the fear she experienced this morning in his presence. They had been alone then, as well, and surrounded by her family this time she was sure he couldn't just strike her down if she made him angry. _Reasonably_ sure, at any rate.

The goat entrails were placed on the fire and the smoke flew to the heavens even as the rain began to drizzle down onto them. Whoever decided January was a favorable month to marry was either already married and enjoyed a good joke, or lived somewhere with significantly better weather than the rest of the country.

"You couldn't get Jiraiya to give us good weather?" Sakura hissed under her breath as the priest droned on.

Somehow all that prompted from Gaara was a quirk of the mouth that she assumed was a stifled smile. He thought this was funny? Then again he wasn't covered head to toe in cloth. It was getting very cold and humid under her veil. Shifting from foot to foot, casting secret glances at her family, Sakura saw that Ino was just as put out by the rain. Kurenai and Asuma, who were outdoors most of the time anyway, didn't seem to care. Hinata was in the kitchen, and the smells of lunch wafted out to them prompting Sakura's belly to give a gurgle. Darting her eyes over she saw another one of Gaara's stifled smiles. He was enjoying her misery and she had to stifle the urge to stomp down on one of his sandaled feet to give him a taste, too.

"… and as you take your sacred bath, your loutra, think hard on the blessings…"

Sakura snapped back to attention, this was her cue. Ino stepped closer, and Sakura turned towards her. The priest lifted the back of the veil and she extended her hand for the ceremonial knife. With Ino whispering encouragement, Sakura grit her teeth and sawed through her handful of hair. When it finally gave with a tug the veil fell again and Sakura saw the priest throw her long hair into the fire. That bundle of hair might have been the symbol of her virginity but she was still determined to hold on to the reality.

"It'll grow back." Ino whispered as she brushed any scraps of hair from Sakura's back and stood back once more as the priest finished.

The ceremonial bath and what was probably her second to last chance to talk Gaara out of this folly of a marriage would be following shortly. But as his eyes tracked from the open flame over to Sakura she saw something dark in his demeanor, his pale skin glossy from the rain, wet hair almost the same color as the blood that had spilled from the goat. Goosebumps travelled up her arms as she realized the look he had given her hadn't caused the blooming dread she expected, but something more like anticipation.

This was not in the plan.

* * *

He wasn't the sort of person who liked traveling with a retinue, and he didn't allow for much help in his forge. Today, as he remembered from last time, it might have served him to ask for a little help because emptying each loutrophoros of water into the copper bathtub was time consuming. He and Sakura's blond sister made trips in turn to bring enough holy water to fill the tubs. Like every other ceremonial bath, it was going to be cold. While he could channel some of his power and heat the water, he was pretty sure what made it holy was how you suffered in it.

"Done?" He watched the blond sister, out of breath from her many trips with the heavy containers, give a little kick to one before turning suddenly towards him at his question.

"Y-yes." She wouldn't meet his eyes at first and then all of a sudden turned a glare at him that made him think it was possible the whole family was unbalanced. The sun god should have attended better to his daughters. Maybe it was fitting that Gaara of all people be married to a woman who wasn't entirely sane, the Fates had a sense of humor sometimes.

Sakura entered the doorway and didn't hesitate as she walked to her side of the room. The yellow veil, dry again, had gone from a dark mustard back to the golden saffron and he watched her move to her side of the curtain without even bothering to hide his interest. Through the entire interminably boring marriage ceremony he had been picturing that smiling face from the wine cup. The hunted gasp she had given in Tsunade's temple combined with her infuriating displays of temper had ignited feelings that vacillated from anger to desire when he thought of her. He had almost been afraid of how curious he was to lift up her veil and see her face as she made her tart observations, to bite down on her lips to stop her words and swallow her indignation.

Shadows moved silently as he made out a vague outline of her body as she was helped out of her clothes. There was a murmured conversation between the two sisters before the blond exited without a backward glance. Alone with Sakura, separated by only a sheet, he finally got out of his clothes and climbed into the water audibly splashing so she would know he was in the bath. Leaning over the side of the tub he watched her silhouette similarly climb into the water.

"Oh." It sounded like a scold, as she snapped out. "Would heating it up make it less sacred?"

Get in the water, a part of him pleaded, as her silhouette was much more exciting than he had expected it to be. He was equal parts disappointed and relieved when she dunked herself fully into the bath.

They had maybe ten minutes of peace before the girl cleared her throat dramatically.

"So…"

He could tell she wanted to talk again, and while the last thing his body wanted to do right now was talk, he recognized it would help take his mind off of the thought of her naked less than a body length away from him.

"Does it seem to you like this is all kind of… sudden?"

He waited long enough to see her begin to fidget, head bobbing around and uneven short hair swaying. Controlling a conversation with her was easy even if he couldn't predict what she'd say. "How so."

"Well, I mean, you could have your pick of all sorts of Olympians or nymphs or mortal princesses and on and on." He already didn't like where this was going. "So what about me, a Titan's daughter, seemed better than those other choices?"

Was this her way of fishing for compliments? He wasn't good at that game, as he learned long ago with Karin. So instead he stayed silent, which was his only tactic whenever he had noticed Karin was sighing and wandering around in thin dresses draped with jewels. It always ended up as a fight anyway.

"I mean, when you think about it, I'm not as pretty as most of those girls." Things had taken a severely different turn than he was expecting. "My powers aren't exactly vast. I don't own a lot of land and my immediate family is remarkably small. And you can attest to how agreeable my personality is."

This is where he was supposed to break in and tell her how pretty she was, he knew. Naruto had explained this to him once not long ago, but it still seemed like a pointless conversation.

"So why even marry me?"

Women always said they wanted the truth, but whenever he had told Karin the truth she had called him boorish and rude. He considered Sakura's question carefully and realized he had to answer in the only way he knew how: bluntly, truthfully.

"There may have been a time when anyone would do," She wasn't going to like that, but he didn't feel the dangerous aura that surrounded powerful women shortly before they tried to take a goblet to your skull. "But right now I'm not sure I would be able to let anyone else have you without bloodshed."

After he spoke there was empty space between them. Then all at once her anger spouted. She lifted her arms above her and brought them down in the water with a forceful enough splash that it hit the sheet.

"You don't even know me! Why me?!" Her frustration was perfectly evident, and Gaara was feeling his own mercurial temperament shifting to match her.

"I'll do as I want you will not question it." The water began to steam around him as he felt his control slip.

Sakura stood up to get out of the bath and had started wrapping herself in something as she spoke in clipped angry tones. "Order me around all you like, if you don't learn how to be a little more persuasive then I don't have to listen!"

The water was boiling around him and he reached out at her silhouette as if he could tear her apart but all he got was a handful of sheet that he balled in his fist with a growl. "Woman…"

There were popping noises above him and Sakura's shriek echoed in his ears as the fabric came off the ceiling and floated down to cover him. People rushed in the room next as he heard Asuma's voice began to loudly ask what was going on and then cut itself short. A feminine giggle from the doorway further cemented his bad mood, but he wasn't about to tear himself out until he could do it alone with a little dignity.

"Lunch will be served in a…. oh my." Another soft voice came from the doorway only to fall silent.

Not for the first time, Gaara wish everyone would just die and leave him alone.


	5. Gamos : Evening

Two more chapters after this: wedding night and the day after (hehe). The idea was short and sweet, even if the whole premise is a little wonky. Thanks to those who thought this was a not totally twisted idea.

Disclaimer: see part 1

* * *

Gamos: Evening

* * *

"Aren't you done yet?" Sakura grumped at her sister who seemed to be paying attention to every single hair on her head instead of just evening things out as she requested. It felt like pounds of hair were gone from her head, and while she had expected to miss all her long hair she was surprised to find she preferred her new short locks.

Hinata maneuvered the shears dangerous close to Sakura's ear and she heard a distinctive snip. A slight spray of fine pink hair dusted the cloth tied around her shoulders and she sighed. Ino would never have gotten so fixated on the details, but Hinata always did a better job with their hair because of that concentrative power.

"It's already starting to get dark," Ino whined from the corner where she had been tuning a lyre she was bringing to the feast. "And the rain is even harder now."

That meant their father was going to be here soon, and Sakura wasn't sure if she was happy with that knowledge or not. It was his fault she was in this mess.

"Ok, I'm done with this." Sakura pushed the shears away from her and removed the cloth from her neck carefully. If she wasn't ready by the time her father was here to escort them all to the banquet then she would be on the receiving end of a lecture and that hadn't happened to anyone but Ino in their small family for almost a decade.

Ino practically dropped the lyre as she rushed over to see Sakura do something she rarely did in front of them: wear jewelry. Both Hinata and Ino had grins on their faces that Sakura wished she could just smack off. The pouch that Gaara had left behind for her taunted her excessively as she knew what it held.

Withdrawing the necklace she had to stifle actual admiration. The huge diamonds in the shape of teardrops held in place with delicately latticed gold on the edges weren't just beautiful, they were artful. As soon as Sakura put it on her powers activated to send an extra shine and glow through the jewelry. While she would always appreciate that one of her domains was good health, she couldn't quite get over the fact that she was goddess of (as Gaara very bluntly put it) _jewelry_. Anything she put on would look extraordinary. Anything she put on would shine brighter and look newer than anything had a right to. There was nothing she looked bad in, and you would think that would be a blessing…

"You look like a constellation…" Hinata said, her hands clasped together and eyes beginning to water a little in happiness.

"I look like an idiot." As soon as the jewelry came on Sakura stopped existing. _How lovely… Where did you get it made… What luster… I wish I could have something like_… Sakura didn't wear jewelry; due to the nature of her powers jewelry wore Sakura. "Just get the rest of this on me. Our father will be here any minute."

Despite herself, Sakura was impressed with the necklace. Gaara was a real craftsman, and she knew quality when she saw it. Even with his ability this would have taken time. He didn't seem like the sort to be able to work something so delicate. There was grudging respect for him that had gotten a beachhead in the battle against this marriage. Sure he was a jerk, and seemed to have a volatility to him that was disconcerting, but not many of the gods could be described as level headed. He wasn't hideous, as others had reported, even if he wasn't exactly a model of manly beauty like Sasuke or Naruto (when he wasn't pulling faces at people). And she had felt a rogue flutter at the end of the marriage ceremony as he had stared at her. Something about his intensity was compelling.

_Weak thoughts! Follow through on the plan!_ Her veil was secure, under it her necklace was radiant, and she was bathed and oiled until she wanted to scream from all the attention. This was all the armor she would get going into battle so she better mentally prepare and stop letting these strange swirling doubts bore holes in her defense. While Hinata and Ino argued about which relative needed to be greeted first at the feast they heard the loud knock at the front door and all the sisters fell silent as all looked to the window which should have been completely dark but which glowed unnaturally.

"Minato. Come in, please." Kurenai's voice was pitched to carry to the girls in the other room.

"Kurenai! It's been too long. I greeted Asuma on my way in, he looks well as do you." Their father's smooth and cultured voice hit the sister's differently. Hinata's joy bloomed on her face as she rushed out to greet him, Ino looked reserved as she wandered out and made sure to give a backward glance at Sakura who was scowling under her veil.

Through the open door she saw Hinata and Ino embrace their golden father in turns. His gentle smile had gone to Hinata, and his golden good looks to Ino, but Sakura had gotten something a little oblique from their father: a rock solid sense of duty and responsibility. The impossibility of resisting this marriage doubled up the despair in her heart. At what point would she just accept that some things had to be bourn for family. _You mean for your father…_ her inner voice whispered.

The worst part of it all was she adored him just like everyone else. He's the god of the sun for goodness sakes! Who didn't feel fantastic on a sunny day?! His presence just made people feel warm inside, he was impossible to dislike. There were no secrets from him, either, so he knew everyone mortal or immortal intimately and behaved with dignity and honor holding those secrets to himself except where he felt compelled to intervene. He was an impossibly perfect person, but he was also always taking care of others. Not a lot of time for the family, when it came down to it.

"Sakura, you look like a bride." There was always a glow around him, even at night, and it reminded her of the way her jewelry sparkled unnaturally when she put it on. There was no need to comment on the ceremony earlier or fill him in, he would already know. "Are you ready for the feast? Your mother will want me to report on every little detail."

"I'm sure Hinata and Ino will have a lot to tell her as well."

"You know she's never satisfied with just one side of things." Kushina always needed to hear every perspective on things before she made a decision. It made shopping with her impossible since she had to compare every vendor's wares before she bought anything.

Minato turned to Kurenai who smiled a little wider as she met his eyes. It was automatic, and Sakura knew she would see this unthinking joy reflected in hundreds of faces before the end of the night. "Will you be acting in place of Kushina tonight?"

"She sent me _many_ notes on what I should do. As well as who needs their heads knocked if they get unruly." That sounded so much like Kushina that Sakura immediately wished their mother were here with a strong arm around her shoulders. She may have been a water nymph but no one would have called Kushina weak, and Sakura wanted some of that strength tonight.

There was some speculations about wedding decorations and general observations about the weather and Jiraiya's absentmindedness when Asuma entered with a smile and the whole group wandered out to load into the chariots. Sakura joined her father, whose aura kept the rain at enough of a distance that she would be kept dry. He smelled like summer.

"It may not seem to you now that I knew what I was doing," Minato said before he snapped the reins. "But in time I think you'll see what I see in Gaara." She hadn't exactly been hiding her displeasure the past months, but she was surprised he would bring it up to her so directly.

"And what do you see?"

She only caught his considering smile a moment before they were off and running and she was more focused on keeping her veil on her head than anything she would be encountering at the end of the journey.

* * *

Garlands were everywhere. Normally this chamber was only used for storage of large items for delivery or for incomplete projects that didn't fit in the normal workrooms but it had been transformed into something extraordinary. His Cyclops workers were brilliant in their own fashion, seemingly slow but truly good at transforming things. They had gotten all the dishes set up and then disappeared to their own personal spaces, shunning the presence of the Olympians and Titans as a rule. Gaara wished he could dismiss his family so easily.

"Looks good in here. I'm glad you didn't do it yourself." Naruto had just let himself in, blue eyes shining in honest happiness for his friend.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You just tend towards…. I don't know… severe and metallic I guess. The Cyclops did a good job eh? Maybe they should get into decorating more often." The trouble with Naruto was not knowing when he was joking or if he was being honestly clueless. "And oh oh, I wrote a new song for the feast. I was talking with Jiraiya and he thinks I should call it _Burning Love_."

For being patron of musicians and athletes, Naruto himself was more of a 'fake it until you make it' when it came to musical performances. The idea that Jiraiya and Naruto had collaborated on anything that would be performed at his wedding filled Gaara with unearthly dread.

"—Because you're all about molten rock and such which is why I thought it was a pretty good title. Plus Sakura's got a pretty mean right hook when she gets angry so-."

"You know Sakura?" Gaara was honestly surprised.

Naruto looked at him like he was nuts. "Well, Minato and I are both sun gods, had to collaborate at some point. People are getting us confused all the time. But yeah, I remember playing with Sakura when we were both little-ish. Even then she was a know it all! But she was also the first girl I knew well besides my sister and I was _convinced_ I was going to marry her, but when you're a kid you think you know everything, right?"

Gaara had to admit this sounded like the Sakura he had encountered the past couple of times. If she had Naruto's endorsement, despite all that, that was a mark in her favor. The idea that Naruto wanted her too didn't sit well with him. He might have been running at the mouth, making light of it, but he wasn't a man who easily changed his mind. Naruto wasn't Sasuke, he reminded himself, and Sakura was not Karin. Past betrayals did not dictate future behavior from totally different people, but he had to squelch the evil feelings boiling in him all the same.

Naruto had set down his lyre near his seat and wandered over to the sweet sesame cakes to start the party early, so to speak. Gaara surreptitiously detuned all the strings. It would take him ages in the noisy banquet hall to get it fixed to sing whatever horrible wedding song he had composed. That delayed one problem.

"How come he gets to start and the rest of us need to wait out here?" TenTen, as if sensing her brother was enjoying himself more than she was by crazy twin-sense, had cracked open the door with a look on her face that told Gaara he had better go invite everyone into the hall before he got accused of favoritism.

Taking his time, wishing he could delay this noisy event just a little longer, Gaara wandered over and fully opened the floor to ceiling metal doors with a booming crash. TenTen, who was just the front of a large crowd of chatting and laughing Olympians and Titans stuck out her tongue at him as she found her own seat on the women's side of the hall.

Everyone entered as a group but filed off by gender to their side of the hall as was custom. The Titans and the Olympians tended to form groups apart from one another, but some could mix freely without causing too much comment. Jiraiya and Tsunade came in last, Tsunade practically dragging Jiraiya by the ear before releasing him in the direction of the head of the hall. Ever social, the cheerful white haired god wrapped Gaara in a hug that would have instantly broken his every bone if he had been less than a full god followed by a pat on the back that partially knocked the wind out of him.

"And here I thought you had escaped the ol' ball and chain, but you're going back for another turn?" He looked off somewhere behind Gaara where Tsunade was and then gave a nervous laugh. "I mean, congratulations! Best of luck to you!"

Gaara cracked his neck and shook out his arms as Jiraiya was off to make conversation with someone. Tsunade had found the wine and she would be fine until it hit her in a few hours at which time Shizune would be the only person that would get her back to Olympus without a fight. It would be appropriate to greet people and make conversation, but Gaara found that the more people were present the less he wanted to be around them.

Outside, the rain was coming down in sheets and Gaara leaned on the slippery rock near an overhang that contained a guttering torch. If he greeted his bride as she arrived they would assume he was being romantic not asocial.

"Gaara" the voice didn't startle him, he wasn't the only god that preferred a little solitude.

"Temari."

"I talked to Karin. She won't be attending this evening." Temari delivered the message without a hint of emotion in her voice. If she had picked a side in the divorce he'd never know. "She may hate you, but even she won't disrespect you or bring you ill fortune by showing up to your feast."

Honestly, he hadn't expected her to take the high road. She had done everything else possible to make his life miserable since day one of their marriage. He had picked her for her status, rather than for love, and she had punished him for his coldness. He was brought back to the words Karin had spoken that first night.

'_You have to love me, I'm the goddess of love!'_

'_I will respect you, but you're asking too much.'_

'_Either I'll make you love or I'll make you hate me. I won't tolerate your apathy.'_

Gaara wasn't going to dip anything more than a toe in the river of memory. He didn't have time for regrets, and when it came to Karin the only one he had was for choosing his first wife poorly. She was too headstrong and wrapped up in an infatuation with Sasuke's power to honor any promise, even marriage. Just another faithless person in his life.

"And Sasuke?" Gaara didn't know if he could refrain from a fight if the black haired god of war showed his face tonight.

Temari had no love for the arrogant war god. He and she had butted heads on too many issues in recent memory. "Who knows, not here. If he were here I wouldn't be."

They stood silently in the rain for some time until they saw the distant glow and heard the clatter of hooves. Minato arrived what seemed like a moment later and even Temari cracked a wan smile as he beamed at them.

"Everyone else inside already?" Gaara nodded. "Then I'll get the horses stabled and join you all shortly."

Minato helped Sakura down and she walked over to Gaara to get out of the rain while her father stabled the horses. He braced for another lashing comment from her tongue, while Temari watched the both of them out of the corner of her eye and pretended to examine her nails.

"Are you as exhausted as I am?" the veiled head obviously tilted to observe his response.

It took him a moment to take stock. "More." He was surprised she would ask mostly because it didn't occur to him she would be anything other than delighted at the attention and bustle. Wasn't all this fuss for women, in the first place? He never considered that she would find it a hassle as well.

"Too cold out here for me, I'll meet you in the vestibule and we'll all go in when the rest of my family arrive." She paused, and he wished for the umpteenth time that he could see what was going on under that veil because he felt like she was searching for something from him. Turning towards Temari she gave a polite greeting and wandered away from the two of them into the dry warmth.

Gaara resisted the impulse to grab her and pull her back to him. His eyes ate her up until she disappeared from view. Nearly his, he felt desire spark again and he wondered for the first time if perhaps this was Karin's real revenge. Marriage wasn't for love, and he didn't pretend Sakura felt anything. It was his turn to want what he couldn't have.

"You like her." Temari accused him, confusion and amusement both plain in her tone.

Snapping back to reality he sneered at her. "You're imagining things."

As if to prove a point he stoically waited for the rest of her family and shoved all thoughts of Sakura from his brain, but found the less he tried to think of her the larger she loomed in his mind's eye.

* * *

"I feel like an octopus." Sakura said as Ino snickered next to her. They sat on the women's side and relatives had been visiting her periodically to give her (oh horror) bedroom advice in addition to random matrimonial harmony advice. As the wine and nectar flowed freely the bedroom advice became more frequent. The whole time she was trying to get some food in her mouth having realized that after almost a whole day of sick worry she couldn't sustain it and her body just wanted sustenance and rest. Food disappeared under her veil and she felt like some lumbering sea creature sucking things up as it moved.

"Well, Gaara looks as red as one."

Once her sister pointed it out Sakura easily found him at the center of a lot of men with Naruto fiddling with a lyre next to him. Whatever Jiraiya was saying to him was turning him red as a beet and she could see the metal goblet he clutched was bending from the center under the force of his grip. She totally understood how he felt. She had knocked over a ceramic bowl of dates when one older aunt had warned her that most men were easy to handle but watch out of he had a thing for feet. Ino had blown wine out her nose and excused it as a sneeze.

The gods around her were drunk and happy, she was cozy and dry on a winter's day, and the more Sakura stewed over the problem of this marriage the more she was sure her misgivings with Gaara could be solved if they could just _talk._ Ino, in her cups, had already given up.

"You'll have to face the music," Naruto appeared to be getting ready to sing, and once the wedding songs began they wouldn't stop until the procession to Gaara's rooms in a couple hours. "And just accept you're as stuck with Gaara as I am with Shikamaru."

"I thought you liked Shikamaru."

"That's beside the point. I didn't know I would like him at first, and now it's almost worse because I do." Ino pointed over to where Hinata and TenTen were talking and laughing, old friends who didn't get to visit often. "You could always run off and swear yourself as one of TenTen's virgin warriors."

Sakura shook her head. She had thought about it once upon a time, but she'd never taken to killing anything even if she was pretty darn good with a bow and could wrestle better than Naruto (at least when they were teens).

"Honestly, even if you had convinced him to call it off you would have felt terrible. You never could deal with disappointing people."

"What do you mean?" Sakura didn't like the dismissive way Ino said it, like she was a fool for being responsible.

Ino picked up a nut and flicked it off of Sakura's veil, baiting her. "I mean you're all talk. If you really wanted out of this marriage you would have figured out a way with that big brain of yours months ago. I think you want to play the good daughter more than you want happiness. I just bought into that dumb plan we came up with because you're useless unless you feel like you're in control—"

With an animal cry, Sakura knocked her sister to the ground. It was too much. The anticipation, the stress, the stupid crazy plan that hadn't even been her idea, and now her dumb sister was telling her she never thought it would have worked anyway! She was just about crash her fist straight into Ino's nose when it was caught from behind by Temari who had moved like lightning at the first sign of trouble. Kurenai was helping Ino up, who was throwing weak punches in Sakura's direction and telling her to 'bring it on, ugly' much to everyone's amusement.

"Whatever she said, blame it on Kankuro and forget about it," Temari said in a soothing monotone.

The men were looking on with curiosity and quite a lot of interest when an out of tune chord rang through the hall and everyone's attention refocused on Naruto.

"This is for all those newlyweds, Gaara and Sakura that's you!" Naruto said before he struck another chord and launched into song.

* * *

Naruto to Gods (extended)

Shizune = Hebe, cupbearer of the gods

Jiraiya = Zeus, king of the gods

Temari = Athena, goddess of wisdom and war

Minato = Helios, Titan and god of the physical sun

Sasuke = Ares, god of war

Kankuro = Dionysus, god of wine and madness

Hope I didn't miss any gods/characters mentioned so far.

As a note, it was forbidden for a divorced woman to attending a marriage feast in ancient Greece. It was considered bad luck for the new couple.


	6. Gamos : Night

OMG wedding night! There are some good articles by classicists out there about how sexist the Greek wedding traditions were. Super fascinating. Definitely there was a lot of discussion about how the whole wedding procession is supposed to mimic abduction. They would even post a friend of the groom outside the door of the groom's home to keep the bride from running away (yikes). Basically it seems like the wedding night was generally set up in a way to freak the bride out from our modern point of view, but no one can say for certain if women back then bought into it or not.

Struggling the keep this T. Gaara and Sakura really want that M rating, but I want to keep this light and fun. My will is strong…

Next chapter is the last chapter

Disclaimer: see part 1

* * *

Gamos : Night

* * *

The purple hem of her gown was hiding the mud stains well, Sakura thought.

Kurenai walked behind her with a torch while Shizune helped steady Tsunade who held the other one behind Gaara. It was a good thing that Jiraiya had finally taken a hint and forced the rain to stop because Tsunade looked cranky enough as it was, torch sagging forward in her hands. As the torch dipped it looked dangerously close to lighting Gaara's clothes on fire, but as he worked in a volcanic forge Sakura assumed that being lit on fire would only be a minor annoyance.

"Do I look like I need help!" The stubborn queen straightened her posture, eyes flashing while somewhere in the crowd a lone man guffawed at her belligerent behavior. Only Jiraiya would have dared to laugh, but even he fell silent as Tsunade's narrowed eyes swept the crowd.

It had been generally decided on that they would circle around the outside of the mountain and up the steep path that led to Gaara's living quarters since they weren't about to march through his inner hallways and his forge. Everyone could use some air now that the banquet hall was stuffy and humid from so many bodies carousing and talking for hours. Some of the gods had run ahead to throw grain, flowers, and nuts on them as they passed. The scattered lines of people were laughing and periodically singing. It was supposed to be triumphant, but Sakura eyed the steep and narrow path and thought this was more precarious than anything.

"You're sure it's too narrow for a chariot?" Sakura asked Gaara once more.

"Have you ever reassembled a broken liquid metal horse's leg?" She tried to suppress an eyeroll at his growled response then allowed herself to do it anyway when she remembered no one could see her under the veil for at least a little while longer.

No going back after this. Once she crossed the threshold into his rooms and he lifted up her veil then she would well and truly be his wife. Off to the side, her father beamed proudly at her and she felt trapped all over again by her sense of responsibility. The plan up until now had been a ray of hope, but Gaara clearly wasn't letting her go and she wasn't about to run out on him and dishonor herself, disappoint her family, and cast a pallor on what had been a remarkably peaceable gathering of Titans and Olympians who normally would not have broken bread. There was too much to lose, and she needed to stop her selfish hopes of freedom.

Time to make the best of a bad situation.

"Well? Waiting for a signal flare?" Not that Sakura wanted to rush anything, but standing still was just making her antsy. Even if they moved slowly at least some exercise would warm her up and help her think.

Gaara gave her a considering glance and shrugged before he grabbed her wrist and began to lead her up the mountainside with his awkward gait. Naturally walking through a crowd only further emphasized his hated weakness. His walk was stiff but no one seemed to care. A small cheer went up from the first clustered groups. It wasn't a comfortable position being led by the wrist, she realized quickly, as Gaara was either walking too fast and jerking her arm or too slow and she'd almost run into his back. Once, at the start, he dodged a particularly enthusiastic throw of grain and Sakura got a face full of good cheer that was blocked well enough by her veil but still riled her.

At least she knew there was one person having less fun than her as Tsunade loudly proclaimed that this whole procession business needed to be revised when the groom lived entirely uphill. Sakura wondered how those diamond heels were working for her in the wet terrain and smiled to herself.

From point of light to point of light Sakura made the climb, and all the while staring at Gaara's back. She noticed that she could make out individual muscles and her traitorous mind wondered what she'd think of them later tonight. Kushina had warned them well enough of satyrs and unscrupulous male gods and what they wanted to do to careless females in enough medical detail that what was about to happen to her wasn't a great mystery, but Sakura also knew it wasn't the same when you were married. If Gaara had been a satyr then she was supposed to bring her knee up between his legs with a loud "no" and get help, (or wrestle him down and strangle him to unconsciousness as Sakura had trained to do with Naruto's unknowing help when she was younger). While it wasn't totally unheard of for a bride to run, it usually didn't end up well for her in the end and it was probably easier to submit to the wedding night with as much dignity as she was able. It might not be horrible. She had seen a racy vase or two in her day and the women in those may have been courtesans but they didn't look like they were having a bad time of it.

Hand her a ledger and she could balance it. Consult her on a personal problem and she had an answer. But other than lots of contradictory advice from drunk relatives, Sakura had no bedroom experience. The unknown was far scarier than the known.

Suddenly stopping, Sakura ran straight into Gaara's back as he released her wrist with a grunt. They might have gone down into a tangle of muddy limbs except the Naruto was there right by the door to keep Gaara steady.

"Better not be too tired, the night's not over yet." Naruto pointed at his lyre and Sakura let herself groan audibly. The remoteness of Gaara's home combined with the bad weather had led her to hope that the last and least appealing of the wedding traditions was not set to happen. Hinata, Ino, and some of her younger aunts and cousins, were nearby and she could see Ino was going to take every bit of revenge on Sakura for embarrassing them both at the feast.

"Don't worry Gaara," Naruto said. "I convinced Kankuro that I should stand guard at the door so I could play for the women who were staying to sing. He thought you'd want everyone to leave right away, but I know you want things done right!"

Sakura wanted to pummel her childhood friend. From the twitch Gaara's eye was doing she thought that perhaps she and her new husband were in complete agreement. Maybe that was a good sign.

"Thanks." The sarcasm in Gaara's voice sailed right over the cheerful blonde's head.

In full view of the procession Gaara turned to everyone, stepping in front of Sakura protectively and silently regarded them. Someone hooted from the back of the line. Another person tossed a handful of nuts that bounced off his chest. Turning her head she saw Naruto give her a grin and a thumbs up. Sakura was torn between wanting to be inside as fast as possible and delaying this just a little longer.

"It's done. Go home." With those unfriendly words Gaara pushed open the large metal door that led to his private rooms and dragged Sakura behind him once again. While everyone was largely silent, as soon as the door shut the hollering and the singing began again in earnest. The thick stone walls muffled the sound, but she knew the windows cut into the rock that looked out over the plains below would let it all in as if her friends and relatives were right there. There would also be periodic banging on the front door and yelling to keep away bad spirits, but Sakura suspected that was just structured to rattle her already well shaken cage.

Everything looked to be carved out of rock, thought how he did it so that it was perfectly straight and smooth was probably a trade secret. The courtyard in the center was open to the sky and straight ahead was the obligatory kitchen that, as gods, they never usually used. The bathing room looked to be to the right of the kitchen and a hot bath sounded like a fantastic idea when she was less exhausted. She could see to her immediate right the door to his workroom was open, and Sakura could imagine that's where he had constructed the necklace she now wore because small tools littered the table.

"Come into the light." Gaara was waiting for her in the middle of the small courtyard, where small puddles reflected the moonlight at odd angles. Up a set of stairs, just past him, Sakura knew there would be a number of bedrooms. Just seeing the doorways made her palms sweat. Her heart was beating fit to burst out of her chest, and if she had been cold a moment ago she was freezing now.

This made it official. He lifted the side of her veil, picking it up slowly and meeting her eyes finally without a barrier to shield them from one another. She refused to drop her gaze or even blink as Sakura finally saw him without the yellow sheen of the veil. He didn't stop with merely uncovering her face, he pushed the entire piece of fabric from her and the bridal crown fell behind her with a clatter as the fabric pooled on top of it.

"And?" Sakura said, glad there was no quiver in her voice to give away how truly nervous she was. Holding her head high she dared him to judge her.

Those eyes of his, so pale green in the moonlight they were almost clear, slowly scanned her from head to toe. His hand twitched and for a moment she thought he was going to move towards her as he shifted his weight. With the barrier to her own sight gone she had to admit to herself he had a terrifying sort of charisma. He was a fire god at heart, only focused by his smithing. In some places she knew he was still worshipped and feared in equal measure. Suddenly, she realized she had stopped shivering.

"Come upstairs when you're ready. Third door on the right."

He turned on his heel and walked upstairs. The breath that Sakura didn't realize she was holding escaped from her lips in a hiss. As she watched him retreat she was scared, not of the fact that they were officially married and this was their first night together, but because of how deflated she felt that he had made no move other than to unveil her.

Marriage, as it turned out, was a confusing new adventure.

* * *

Gaara was unaccountably proud of himself. It had taken a sheer act of will not to tear her dress off in the middle of the courtyard. Up close she was unreal, vibrant, with those diamonds practically glowing at her throat and a challenging look on her face she had seemed almost Amazonian. Where Karin seemed cunning Sakura seemed intelligent, where Karin was voluptuous and decadent Sakura seemed well proportioned and balanced. Karin he had dismissed because her stock and trade was desire and Gaara abhorred being manipulated, but Sakura was entirely ignorant of her appeal and somehow it made her irresistible to him.

He wanted to see her in nothing but that diamond necklace. Gritting his teeth he wondered if this was the feeling that people claimed was infatuation, or if it was just basic lust. Was there even a difference? It was too new to him, foreign, and he didn't really want to philosophically explore it.

Muddy shoes tossed in a corner, chiton half off his body, he slumped on the bed and set up for the long wait until his bride decided to show her face. If she never entered this room he wouldn't be surprised, but at the very least she would be compelled to do her duty and finish this farce. Snatches of song and the twang of the lyre accompaniment below reminded him they weren't truly alone.

The longer he waited the more he felt himself slipping back into his old mind. He hadn't started out a craftsman, that had come with time, he had been something primal and destructive once. Fear still fed his power and he could feel it rolling off of Sakura who was just outside the door by the look of her skirts edging into view. By the time she actually took a step in she had no clue that she was making him into the very thing she seemed to fear, and he ground his teeth and considered the benefits of allowing the monster to take over. If he relinquished control then at least he would have made a choice to do so, but if he allowed instinct to take over she'd never trust him. Why her trust was valuable to him was another perplexing issue.

"I think we need some ground rules." Her unusually firm tone was like a bucket of cold water. Gaara's descent into darkness was halted as he met her stern face curiously. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised, as nothing about this woman had been typical or expected. Sweat that had formed on him from his inner struggle moments ago pooled uncomfortably at his lower back.

Seeing that she had his attention, her demeanor shifted towards nervous, but she rallied and continued. "If this," and she gestured back and forth from him to her, "is going to happen tonight I need to know that you aren't going to make it… unpleasant."

He wanted to groan, between the twanging and the singing outside and this conversion inside, bedroom activities in general were fading from his mind rapidly.

"Define unpleasant." He was annoyed enough to want to make her uncomfortable.

"Painful." She said after considering a moment. In the lamplight she was blushing as she added. "Or if you have some sort of peculiar preference I need to brace for…"

Nothing about this conversation was sexy. If she was worried about him ravishing her it would have been far more likely in the moonlight of the courtyard than at this particular moment when he felt tired and distinctly awkward.

"I'm going to take a bath." Gaara pinched the bridge of his nose as if that would kill the dull throb that was starting to take residence in his mind. He should have stuck to his first instinct: that marriage was a lot of trouble and he was better off alone. But when he had been talking with Minato, once more silently reliving the pain of betrayal followed by years of loneliness and his increasing appetite for destruction he had been surprised when Minato had suggested another marriage. Gaara didn't need anyone, but now that Sakura was here and with him he knew he didn't want to let her go either.

"You mean before we, uh…?" She couldn't even bring herself to say it. That actually made him smile faintly; finally she was running out of forthrightness.

"I mean I'm going to take a bath because I'm sweaty and tired." Rising from the bed, he walked by her and out the door as she threw a peculiar look at him. Not wanting her to feel like he was retreating, even if there was some truth to that, he grabbed her chin in his hand and brought his mouth down on hers suddenly. He'd wanted it to be a lesson, a warning, a promise, but as soon as their lips connected he felt lost.

His hand slid from her chin to trace her jaw and landed cradling the back of her head. Her recently shorn hair was softer than he thought hair could be, sliding through his fingers like water. Lips she had been chewing on just a moment before were parted in surprise and he traced his tongue over her teeth before they broke for breath.

_You could join me. _ The words floated to the top of his mind, but saying them out loud would sound weak. He didn't want to face her indecision and possible refusal, so instead he brushed past her and back down the stairs. But he had to say that in all the time he was married before, Karin had never looked at him like Sakura had looked at him just then. That knowledge twisted his gut like slow acting poison.

* * *

Snatches of songs were what eventually snapped Sakura out of her blind panic. The stories most of the women had told her regarding the wedding night mostly started the same way ("I felt so sick with nervousness, but then it wasn't so bad", "Just grin and bear it, he'll get tired pretty fast") and ended the same way ("it gets more tolerable", "eventually they stop bugging you as much"). None of them had talked about _wanting_.

Good wives didn't want, that was part of what made them good. Desire was for women with loose morals, but the more she picked at that idea the harder it was to think that it made any sense. Her mother loved their father and she'd seen more than one embarrassingly enthusiastic kiss between them. Asuma and Kurenai didn't keep much distance from one another. True no one displayed anything outwardly, but was that to say that in their minds there wasn't something else going on?

Sakura needed it to be true, she needed validation that what she felt was normal otherwise she would be involved in the shamefully indecent state of mind of _wanting to have sex with her husband_. To discover at this stage in the game, with more than a century of life behind her, that she was secretly wanton would be a severe blow to her self-image. After such a long time of containing her inner self tightly, perhaps letting it out around Gaara had started some chain reaction. After all, she didn't even like the man! Not that she disliked him precisely, but when she thought of him there was definitely a confusing mass of issues to work through.

Only one person knew enough about love, husband-wife relations, desire, and Gaara to shed light on this problem. It was shameful that, even with everything that had gone on between them they hadn't dedicated even the tiniest of blessings to her. It wasn't uncommon for a new bride to ask for a blessing before the marriage was consummated…

So maybe when she asked Karin a question Gaara would not erupt into fiery anger when he inevitably found out.

As she made her way back to the women's day room, Sakura took a steadying breath. This would either be disaster or brilliance and Karin's capriciousness was legendary. Despite its expense, Sakura knew she was never using her veil again. Burning that would surely get Karin's attention in offering. The ornamental stove in the women's room was perfect and, as her delicate veil went up into a puff of smoke and she made her plea, Sakura put the bridal crown back on for good measure. Knowing her crown and necklace were in full glow, she straightened her shoulders to reflect confidence she wasn't exactly feeling.

Now, all she needed to do was wait.


	7. Epaulia

Last chapter, weeee. Then probably something epilogue-ish/short continuation-ish of my Riding Hood piece eventually. Or maybe a return to Enishi/Kaoru something or other. I need something less fantastical and more modern/realistic to ground me. Sort of a weird ending here, but it felt complete there.

Thanks so much to everyone who this gave a smile to, because I certainly worked to patch it together. I especially struggled in this one with their characters (this wandered into ooc territory and I _hate_ that) but it was a good exercise for me. Have to have struggles to remind us we're all still learning to be better writers!

Disclaimer: see part 1

* * *

Epaulia

* * *

The bronze mirror behind her cleared its throat and Sakura took a steadying breath before turning to confront it. Instead of her own tinted reflection there was Karin, squinting at her. It was well known that love was blind, but that was just an exaggeration. Love was more nearsighted than anything, and love could see very well about six feet in front of herself. Sakura crossed the room so Karin could see her better, and watched as Karin muffled her shock imperfectly. Running her fingers through long red hair, she gave Sakura a considering look and gestured for her to sit.

"I swore I'd never set foot in this place again and even seeing this room gives me hives. You have five minutes." She tried to sound bored but Sakura wasn't fooled by Karin's casual tone.

Taking a moment to compose her thoughts she ended up asking something entirely unrelated to all her other concerns. "Why not Gaara?"

Eyebrows rising so high they almost disappeared into her bangs, Karin pressed her lips together and shot her a sideways look before finally answering. "He's too… primitive." With a sigh she elaborated. "Blunt, oblivious, meticulous, conniving, volatile… I mean how do I put it?" She tapped one perfect nail against her lip before getting an 'a-ha' look. "Well he's a fire god, right? Fires are so damned interesting and you want to reach out and touch them but every time you do you get burned. Now in comparison with Sasuke, Sasuke is cold and beautiful like a marble statue…" A fluttery sigh escaped Karin's lips.

So even the goddess of love had to admit something about Gaara drew people and kept them away at the same time. Before she got started on Sasuke and sidetracked the point of this conversation, Sakura tried to redirect Karin.

"Did you, ah, perhaps curse me to… want Gaara?"

Her mouth dropped open for a moment on the other side of the mirror and then Karin began to laugh. Sakura didn't appreciate the condescending tone and tried to feel a little less disgruntled than she actually was.

"You think I'd actually give him the satisfaction?" The bitterness of her tone said more than her words. "That's your problem, and trust me you'll come to regret it if you think he's worth one iota of feeling."

"Hey, that's not very fair." Sakura could feel some of her intimidation easing off as her anger sparked. He might not be everything Sakura had dreamed of as a man, but Karin was talking about him like he had no worth as a being.

"Don't kid yourself into thinking you're special. His heart is reserved for himself and his little _projects_. It's only a matter of time before you follow my lead."

The room felt extra quiet as Karin looked daggers at Sakura without really seeing her. The goddess of love, Sakura concluded, had a big chip on her shoulder. Well, she had had practice all day indulging in her own dark side and she didn't particularly like staying silent while Karin railed on a man that she didn't know very well but wanted to give the benefit of the doubt.

"With all respect and honor to you, I'm not about to go sleeping around just because my husband doesn't go out of his way to tell me I'm pretty."

Karin's fury only made her more beautiful, while Sakura knew she was turning that angry shade of red that clashed with her pink hair. "I followed my heart. Sasuke is a million times—"

"—More self-involved than Gaara! At least Gaara creates, Sasuke only knows how to destroy. Gaara doesn't run from his responsibilities. When was the last time you saw Sasuke do something for his family?" Sakura interrupted.

"I'm glad you like him so much, then. I hope you _do_ end up in love with the bastard! It'll hurt even more when he ignores you! Get ready for a life of disappointment and cold beds."

Sakura wished she could punch Karin in her perfect face as she clenched both her fists at her sides until the knuckles were white. With a strangled cry she did the only thing that made sense and flipped the mirror around. Karin's derisive laugh sounded once and faded. It hadn't even taken five minutes of her time.

Standing up, clenching her fists again, she was going to look for something to punch when her eyes met a similar pair of angry green ones. Framed by the doorway, Gaara was steaming (actual tendrils of steam were rolling off of him and evaporating the puddle that had collected under his bare feet) while one hand clutched a white cloth around his waist. He looked like fury incarnate, a volcano ready to erupt. Finally noting how clearly see could see everything in the room she realized that in her anger her 'glow' had intensified to a beacon. The crown and necklace were like small heat-less suns on her body. Between the light and the yelling it wasn't surprising he had appeared like this.

He was so tense that every lean muscle on his body stood out in stark relief. Swiftly tying a loose knot in the side of the cloth he strode past Sakura only breaking eye contact with her when he picked up the bronze mirror, bent it in on itself, and threw it against the opposite wall. It bounced off, hitting decorative pots and smashing them into clay dust. Breathing heavily he turned and advanced on her.

"If you betray me, I'll kill you." His voice was conversational, even if nothing else about his demeanor implied he was in control.

"You think I don't know that?" Sakura challenged with what was left of her own anger. If she didn't hold onto that she would be mute and quivering.

"Then what was this about?!" The water had totally evaporated off of him and the heat his body gave off was almost suffocating this close to him.

Jabbing him in the chest with one finger, Sakura let her inner voice run with it while her conscious mind made terrified flips. "In case you're slow at getting this, I was trying to figure out if I wanted you because Karin had cursed me. And apparently I'm just messed up in the head because my feelings have nothing to do with her!"

Sakura was sure her life was going to end as she pulled back her hand and felt the burnt tip of her finger throb. Slowly, the light ebbed around them as her glow faded along with her confidence.

* * *

Nothing made Gaara want to destroy more than the piercing tones of his ex-wife. Sitting in his bath, wondering what the next few hours were going to be like, he noted how it sounded like Sakura was having an argument with someone above him. It was the laugh that clued him in. Karin's laugh was distinctive, and it grated on his nerves.

Climbing out of the bath and grabbing a washcloth for a nod at modesty he climbed the stairs to see what looked like daylight seeping through all the cracks in the door to the women's dayroom. Silently opening the door he watched Sakura yell at Karin and flip the mirror around.

They were in this together! He was a fool. Thinking that maybe he was allowed to start again, when no one was going to let him forget how damaged he was inside and out: the unwanted son, lame and discarded, only needed for what he could give. The marriage wasn't consummated yet, he could send her back to her household and go about his life again.

He wanted to destroy something so Gaara started with the mirror, and rounded on Sakura to torture an explanation out of her when her angry words didn't fit the picture he had built. As he smoldered in front of her, watching her glow fade under his withering glare, he tried to get a hold on himself. It was an almost physical grapple as his hands bunched in his hair and his skin stretched and pulled.

"What do you mean?" She met his eyes without shame or guilt and he wondered at what he could consider true. "What do you _mean_?" He wanted to shake her, but he found the inner strength to stay still and stand up straight. The illusion of calm was on him again.

"I heard you the first time!" Sakura stood there, shaking but resolute inches from him. "I mean…"

She leaned in to brush her lips against his and then drew back with a pained hiss. A bucket of cold water thrown on him in that moment would have been the only thing more shocking. A chill from the top of his head moved down to his toes slowly. Muscles unclenched, and he closed his eyes in an attempt to process the past few minutes. His blood cooled and his mind raced.

There was no way this woman before him knew what _wanting_ really meant. The bone deep ache that came in the middle of the night when he thought of the family that only tolerated him, or the indecision and mistrust he felt for years as he wove a trap for Karin and her infidelity, capped off with the knowledge that all he could ever be deep down was a force of destruction or a convenient tool. He had nothing to give her, he was an empty vessel.

While he stood there, eyes closed, he felt Sakura close the distance and wind her arms around him. Her hands tickled a path up his bare back and then back down to his waist. Kissing him again he looked down at her and, possibly for the first time, really saw her. This woman was tempered iron to her core, she may be afraid of his moods (which showed good sense) but she wasn't letting it stop her from moving forward. Maybe what he had been feeling all this time was as much loneliness as stagnation. He was the one stuck in his own pain.

"You're an idiot," he felt as much as heard her whisper and didn't know if she was talking about him or herself.

With the position she had placed them in she could have him on his back with a minimum of effort on her part, and the aggressiveness of her self-defense aroused him as much as the feeling of skin on skin. Naruto had claimed she knew how to wrestle, he recalled, before he felt his brain start to shut down. Gaara felt his heart pound irregularly and he knew without a doubt that, whatever else came tomorrow, they weren't making it back to the bedroom until later tonight. All the anger and uncertainty of the day fell away for a time and transformed, and maybe between them it didn't need to be complicated tonight.

* * *

Sakura could have sworn they started banging pots before they hammered on the door. The girls, who had stopped singing at some point when they got bored last night, had been supplanted by the men who were much louder. The racy songs had become downright obscene then and as the women started up again to accompany the men she was sure there had been more wine involved. Exhaustion had prompted her to enter the sleep she indulged in when her energy was low, but it didn't look like Gaara had slept at all. She saw him standing near the window, hidden from the sight of their well-wishers but clearly focused on her.

At first she was going to get up when she recalled that her wedding costume was in multiple pieces in the room down the hallway. That prompted the first of what she was going to assume were many blushes that day.

"Did my family drop a bag off, by chance?"

She didn't even bother with the good morning. When he blinked and looked at her once more she realized he had been thinking and not simply staring. That was a relief in some senses, but now that he was consciously regarding her she could sense shifts in his expression until he was carefully blank.

It was exhausting to think that she might know every plane of muscle, the texture of his rusty hair, and the precise tint of the bags around his eyes but she was no closer to guessing what was in his mind. While her own mind was wandering she hadn't noticed him moving around the room until he dropped one of his chitons on top of her lap. She clutched the blanket to her chest tighter and his mouth quirked in amusement before smoothing out.

"I can't wear that, it's for a man."

"Wear the blanket then." Gaara responded casually before he left the room. Groping around, she pulled the chiton under the blanket and put it on as if modesty somehow would be preserved. Something glinted out of the corner of her eye and she noted the diamond necklace by the foot of the bed. Of course that was the only part of her outfit that had made it to the bedroom, she thought as her blush spread to the rest of her body.

Everything was in place but the shorter male chiton was much more drafty than what she was used to and she stayed as far away from the railing as possible as she made her way to the women's day room to retrieve her torn dress. She was on her knees searching for the belt that had been tied under her bust and had been thrown somewhere when she heard twin gasps from the door.

"What happened in here?" Hinata asked as her mortified blush spread across her face. Ino didn't say anything but looked like she was some combination of amused and worried.

"I'm fine. Please say those are real clothes in your hands. I can't receive gifts today looking like this."

Ino closed the door behind her as Hinata unpacked the clothes they had brought for her as well as one of her shawls, a green that matched her eyes. The sisters examined the room while Sakura quickly climbed out of the borrowed chiton. Gaara's earthy scent left as soon as the fabric was packed away in the bag her own dress had arrived in, along with the scraps of her bridal costume.

Hinata clucked over the broken pots and turned over stove, while Ino laid the folded up bronze mirror against the wall and turned a truly worried glance in Sakura's direction. All she did was give a wan smile and shrug. There was no way she was telling her sisters right now she had consummated her marriage on this floor after basically making an enemy of the goddess of love. Bad luck stacked on bad luck.

"Are we putting the gifts in here? The courtyard is still too wet." Ino saw blankets in disarray on the floor and gave Sakura a sideways glance.

"It won't be hard to clean up."

Hinata volunteered to go find a broom and skittered off, but as soon as she was gone Ino was at Sakura's side demanding to know if she was really ok.

"I'm just fine, better than fine." Sakura didn't speak of her own misgivings. Gaara hadn't been cruel but he hadn't been gentle either. When she had told him to stop or slow down he did, and when she had demanded other things of him he had done them just as deliberately and thoroughly. Trying not to revisit those thoughts, Sakura felt her body begin to respond again anyway and cursed wherever these impulses came from in her brain. Today was about being a model wife.

"Look me in the eyes and tell me again," Ino said, a skeptic to the end.

"I may have been reluctant before but I'm telling you, last night was better than I could have expected and I'm happy, darn it!" Putting extra emphasis on the end of the sentence she saw Ino's feline smile and turned around to see Hinata and Gaara both in the doorway. "Oh for heaven's sake!" If only one of her powers was sinking into the floor she would take full advantage right now.

Hinata came in with the broom and dustpan while Gaara removed the mirror from the room entirely. The smirk he wore on hearing her words didn't fade as he completed his chore, and even if he still didn't acknowledge her sisters he also came back to remove more broken items without any prompting. Soon enough the room was ready to be seen again, even if it looked much barer than it did previously.

"Kurenai should be arriving soon with light refreshments for visitors. Today's going to be very busy again!" Hinata, in party planning mode again, was a bag of nerves.

"I'm going to wash my face quickly and get my hair in order. I feel like three days of parties in a row is a little too much when you're at the center of it all." Sakura sighed as Ino looked untouched by her warning. Ino would have to go through it all in less than a year (assuming Shikamaru got his act together.)

The basin in the bathroom was more a small fountain with clear water flowing out of it continuously. Sakura wondered if it tapped in to some reservoir in the mountain. Near her watery home she always expected fresh water but it was a delightful surprise that she wouldn't have to forgo that luxury even someplace that seemed so dry in comparison.

Feeling like it was the first time she could take an easy breath since days ago she saw something in the mirror in front of her and turned just in time to brace as Gaara backed her up against the wall. His arms caged her on either side of her head, loose but intimidating. He moved his face forward and smirked when she flinched. Unbidden, the word Karin had used for him echoed in her mind: _primitive_.

"What are you doing?" Sakura hissed, more alarmed at the fact that her sisters were directly above them than at what he was doing.

"Anticipating," he responded as he practically bit down on her lip. Sakura thought about pushing him back but, as she had learned last night, he was much stronger than her. Easing up he watched her face as he ran his fingertips from her collarbone to her hips. Her traitorous body responded to him and Sakura gave him her crankiest scowl. This was not the time nor the place she wanted this kind of attention even if her body disagreed.

A breath she didn't know she was holding escaped as he backed up a step or two. From lustful to inscrutable, his bland expression belied everything she knew of him. He let the silence stretch between them until Sakura felt compelled to fill it.

"Get it all out of your system then?" She tried to add a laugh to the end of it, but it came out less firm than she wanted it to.

Gaara looked at her and she felt opened up to him somehow, like he was mapping her reactions the same way he would draw a schematic. "Not even remotely."

The bathroom felt three times bigger when he left and Sakura washed her face once more for good measure. The balance of power was all off and she refused to be cowed. Weakness was a choice and today she would show him just how strong she could be.

* * *

The first time around during the interminable ceremonies Gaara remembered that Jiraiya had taken him aside for a "fatherly" talk about women. Needless to say he had blacked out much of that rambling monologue, but he did have a takeaway and that was that women only had as much power over you as you let them. He had resisted being controlled so perfectly with Karin that she had been a stranger in his home by the end. Belatedly he remembered Tsunade also taking him aside much later and telling him that marriage had to be a two way street. He was starting to see that both of them might have a point.

Sakura didn't seem like the threat Karin had been and he was beginning to recognize how infinitely more dangerous that made her. Giving her his clothes to wear? Seeking her out just because he wanted to see her? Helping with chores he could easily have sent a servant to perform? She was already infiltrating barriers that had never been breached before. Worse yet he wanted to give her things, unprompted. How had she slipped under his defenses so fast?

"So when can I expect grandchildren?" it was the first thing out of Tsunade's mouth to Sakura as she came to give them linens. The dark haired sister scurried upstairs with the gift while the light haired sister chatted with Naruto and TenTen. Gaara watched, amused, while Sakura sputtered something.

"You're smiling." Kankuro had appeared from somewhere, wine cup in hand. "Better start scowling or someone might think you were happy."

"Isn't it a little early for drinking?"

Kankuro lifted his cup and took a drink, assenting with a toothy smile. "You bet. But it is a benefit to being the god of wine. No one thinks it strange if I'm drunk anywhere, it's very convenient."

They were both standing under an eave, watching the proceedings as Sakura played hostess. Her diamond necklace shone and made her the center of attention even more so. Tsunade must have spoken to Jiraiya about weather because there was not even a hint of drizzle even if the lack of clouds made it colder than expected.

"She's ignoring you pointedly, you know." Kankuro didn't need to look at Gaara to know that he was annoying him effectively. "Every time her eyes start sliding towards you she makes herself turn and talk to her sister."

"You think I didn't notice that?" Gaara had thought it charming, in its own way, but to have Kankuro point it out made it much less pleasing.

Kankuro slid down the wall at his back and sat on the stone courtyard. "I don't suppose you did something to make her angry already?"

Not wanting to dignify anything with a response Gaara just crossed his arms over his chest and thought about the design for a new racing chariot Naruto had been describing to him earlier. It had to be lighter, but the material needed to be strong and supple as well. Some kind of new alloy…

"You should talk to her, you know. If you're acting like, well, you—I imagine she thinks you're being very mysterious."

Maybe if he started with bronze and worked with some of its properties, but bronze seemed like the wrong way to go this time somehow…

"Women like words. You accuse me of chatting like an old woman, but I promise you, a good conversation can be extremely appealing. I mean I'm not much to look at, I'll be honest, but I know how to talk to women."

It was getting harder to ignore Kankuro and Gaara grit his teeth as he lost his metallic train of thought. "Then go talk to a woman!" he snapped.

Kankuro stood up, happy to have gotten a reaction. Baiting Gaara was like a sport to him. "Gladly. But you should think about it. Women love words."

Kankuro wandered over to insert himself into the conversation between TenTen, Naruto, and the blond sister. Gaara was left to his own thoughts. Talk to his wife? What in the world would that even entail? It was all new territory and Gaara retreated to designing chariots in his mind.

At some point he had ended up in his workshop writing down new formulas to try out when the light that had been streaming in from the doorway was blocked by a stormy looking pink haired woman.

"It's well past midday. I don't suppose you want to help me entertain all the friends and relatives who have been showering us with gifts?" She phrased it like a question but Gaara got the distinct impression an order was couched in it. Not that that was going to change his response.

"Not particularly." She was going to blow. He of all people knew the signs after years with Karin. "Tell me honestly, if you had an option would you be out there today?"

The deflated Sakura immediately as her eyebrows drew together. "That's not the point at all. I need you out there too, I can't do it all."

"I thought you wanted to do it all. You didn't seem to want me there earlier. I have better uses for my time if I'm not needed." He checked his tone in his own mind and was satisfied that it hadn't seemed like a complaint. He took the opportunity to lean back in his chair for the first time in hours and his back cracked audibly.

Sakura winced. "That sounded terrible. Come out and help for a little while. Think of it as a break."

Gaara rolled his neck around and cracked his knuckles before scraps of Kankuro's words filtered through his mind. "Or you could come in here." While not as sacred as his desk in the forge, this had always been a space for just him. He tried to seem impassive as he waited, but more was riding on her answer than he could explain to himself.

Sakura sighed and turned around. Gaara felt his defenses closing around himself again, his brain echoing the cackling I told you so of rejection which halted suddenly as she closed the door and came over to stand behind him. His inner voices silenced abruptly.

"So what are you working on…?"

He would have sooner killed himself than admit it to anyone, but that's when he knew he was in love.

* * *

Sakura had had some rudimentary mathematics and philosophy and she had been talented at it but the formulas Gaara was working with were so beyond her she found herself impressed despite herself. He was a genius, truly brilliant, and having the evidence of it spread out in front of her left a real impression. All the hard work, the long hours of planning and slow experimentation and creation were all over the room. This room felt like a glimpse into his brain more so than any conversation they might ever have with one another.

"You're pretty incredible, you know." Sakura picked up a piece of chain made of some multicolored metal that shifted from hot to cold against her skin.

Gaara only grunted. He was sketching out something as she examined the room. In this room he seemed perfectly at ease. No trace of instability eked out while he was bent to his tasks.

"It makes me want to be incredible at something, too."

"Like what?" It was probably the first question he had asked her that he seemed to care about the answer to. It was almost like a real conversation with a regular person. That was a milestone she hadn't expected to reach with Gaara so soon, if ever.

Sakura thought about what she was good at: practical everyday things, talking to people, sports that took more brawn than agility… none of it seemed that valuable. "I don't know."

"Pick something and do it. Either it will work or it won't." His advice was delivered flatly and her first instinct was to get angry, but she realized belatedly he was giving her the advice he gave himself: be decisive, take action, work with the results. Re-framing it in that way allowed her to actually mull it over.

If he was such a genius maybe he could see something she didn't. "What would you suggest I try?"

His fingers made a tent in front of him as he regarded her with intense scrutiny. That thousand yard stare of his was back into effect, and she felt like he was picking her apart in his mind.

"Learn to fight."

"Excuse me?"

He laid it out so simply she felt as bare before him as the night before. "You have unusually good health and fast healing, you're frequently angry with no outlet, and you want to be strong. Even when you're uncomfortable you push yourself, and your stamina is admirable. Your instincts are good, you just need training. Am I incorrect?"

"A typical husband would not encourage his wife to do something like that."

Gaara's mouth twitched into a smile and faded just as fast before he said. "We're not so typical." Then all at once it was like a light in him went out and he had retreated back to the work in front of him.

He had seen straight through her today, she thought ruefully. She wasn't even on the same playing field as him yet, but he seemed to not mind the idea that she would climb there. Temari and TenTen would be happy to help her if she was serious about training to be a warrior. At some point Tsunade should be consulted, because she hated being the last to know about things having to do with her own family. It was a goal that seemed possible, even inspiring. The fact that she could be inspired by Gaara made her feelings swell.

"What if I end up stronger than you?" Sakura wandered over to him and boldly tickled the back of his neck with the edge of her shawl.

"Not possible," he mumbled, but he didn't look up from his work. Whatever had powered this interlude, he had reached the end of his ability to sustain it. The dismissal wasn't spoken, but she felt it clearly enough.

Sakura took a couple breaths to memorize everything about the moment before she emerged into the bright winter light in the courtyard. For the first time since she found out she was getting married, she felt at peace. If this is what it meant to be married to a monster, then she'd recommend it to more people. He was no less dangerous and that wasn't going to change, but if she became strong maybe she could be equally dangerous. She could love a man like Gaara, someone who encouraged her to grow if in no small part because she'd be damned if she was going to live in fear of him either.

"Is everything ok, you look funny." Ino said as she handed Sakura a hot drink. People milled around the courtyard but the bulk of the gift giving was done and only a few lingered to talk about all the goings-on the past few days. Even Hinata looked like she was on the verge of relaxing, and if Hinata was relaxed then everything must be well and truly over.

Taking a deep drink, Sakura didn't even taste it. "Everything is perfect."


End file.
